Entries in GOP Weekly Address
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Photo By Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- In this week's Republican address, Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby spoke about the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013, a bill passed by the House of Representatives this week.

On the eve of Mother's Day, Roby dove into the details of the bill, which she sponsors. "This bill provides options for working moms and dads who need more time to take care of family responsibilities," Roby said. "It also demonstrates how applying conservative principles can help working Americans in their everyday lives."

The bill would allow private sector workers to exchange overtime wages for paid time off. This option, already available to government workers, would allow parents time to "take their child to the doctor, attend a PTA meeting, or make it to a tee-ball game," says Roby.

"What this bill doesn't do is change the 40-hour work week or how overtime is calculated," Roby explained. "The same protections that have been a part of labor law for decades remain, and we've added additional protections against coercion or unfair treatment."

Roby questioned critics of the bill who feel that employers may force workers to take time off instead of overtime pay. "Why should the rules be any different for employees in the private sector? Why should government workers have more freedom in the workplace than everybody else? And why is Washington restricting employers from offering certain benefits that government itself is free to offer."

Roby concluded by urging the Senate to act expediently on the bill. "I join my fellow House Republicans in urging the Democratic-run Senate to take up this bill and pass it soon." She also urged President Barack Obama to "listen to the working parents of our country and promise them, he'll sign this bill into law when it reaches his desk."

"This bill won't solve the debt crisis, or fix the President's healthcare law, or simplify the tax code," Roby admitted. "But the fact that we can't solve the big, overarching problems overnight shouldn't stop us from doing what we can right now to help make life a little easier for working moms and dads."

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler says in this week's Republican address that while the GOP-controlled House has passed "more than 30 jobs bills," a budget and a bipartisan bill to help farmers and ranchers facing "the worst drought our country has suffered in decades," President Obama has not urged the Senate to act. In the meantime, she says, "Drought conditions continue to worsen, and the shaky state of the economy only amplifies our anxiety."

"You’ve probably heard the president say recently that the private sector is ‘doing fine’ and that his plan ‘worked.’ If only that were true," she says in the address.

But, she adds, "Unemployment has never been this high for this long after a recession. Even those who have jobs are seeing their paychecks shrink. Rising prices on everyday things from gas to groceries certainly doesn’t help matters."

Citing an independent report from accounting firm Ernst & Young, Hartzler warns that a tax hike "would destroy more than 700,000 jobs," and force manufacturers and small business owners to hold back on plans to hire and expand.

"Senate Democrats haven’t acted to stop the small business tax hike scheduled for January 1st, but the House has," Hartzler charges. "Because while the president tells small business owners like me ‘you didn’t build that,’ Republicans know better and are committed to getting government out of their way."

Speaking in Roanoke, Va., last month, Obama pushed the importance of continued government investments in public services and infrastructure that many U.S. businesses rely on to function. "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help … Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen," Obama said.

Republicans and Rep. Hartzler have seized on the line "you didn't build that," claiming that the president was speaking directly to business owners about their businesses.

But at a fundraising event in Oakland, Calif., Obama hit back at his critics for "splicing and dicing" his words.

"I believe with all my heart that it is the drive and the ingenuity of Americans who start businesses that lead to their success. I always have and I always will," he said.

Still, Hartzler says Republicans are focused on jobs and acting on better solutions even if President Obama won't "do anything about it."

"The president, on the other hand, still has no plan to save Medicare -- in fact, he took hundreds of billions of dollars from it to help pay for ObamaCare -- while Senate Democrats haven’t even offered a budget in more than three years," Hartzler says.

"Here in the Show Me State, we expect our leaders to offer solutions to our most pressing challenges, especially when the going gets tough. But these days, the president doesn’t even want to talk about the bad economy, let alone do anything about it. That, too, is a shame."

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- In this week's Republican address, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor focuses on rebutting the president’s tax proposals, but joins the president in wishing well for the athletes.

“Watching the Olympics this week, I am reminded that one of the things that sets America apart is that ordinary people have the freedom to accomplish extraordinary things,” Cantor states. "Every day I hear from Americans who are ready to do the extraordinary: Open a new business, create new jobs, build a better future for our children and theirs. All they ask is that Washington get out of the way.”

“While we continue to work to provide solutions here at home, we wish our athletes in London the very best,” he said.

Cantor, like his colleagues who have delivered the address before him, says it is imperative to put a stop to the plan by President Obama and Democrats to extend tax cuts for households with incomes less than $250,000. This week, the Democrat-led Senate passed this bill which would allow taxes to increase for wealthier Americans. Meanwhile, House Republicans voted in favor of a bill to stop the impending tax increase set to take effect for all Americans next year.

"The threat of higher taxes and more red tape has our small business owners anxiously sitting on the sidelines rather than starting a new business and hiring another employee," Cantor says in the address.

He adds, "These men and women know what some in Washington apparently do not, that higher taxes and more regulations do not create jobs. Entrepreneurs do. Red tape and new taxes just make the job of creating jobs that much harder."

The House leader notes President Obama's stance on tax increases less than two years ago, saying the president "actually agreed with House Republicans that a tax increase on our small businessmen and women would hurt our economy."

"This raises the question: does President Obama now believe our economy is doing so well that we can afford to raise taxes on small businesses?" Cantor asks.

Jobs data released Friday showed a jump in the U.S. unemployment rate from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent, despite the addition of 163,000 jobs in June. Cantor says that he is hopeful that Washington can come together on bipartisan legislation that will put the breaks on any tax hikes or red tape that he says would slow down job creation.

"We have made clear our willingness to be here in Washington if the President and Harry Reid will finally decide to join us in a bipartisan solution to stop the massive tax hike," he says.

United States Senate(WASHINGTON) -- In the days since the Supreme Court's ruling Thursday to uphold President Obama's health care law, both Republicans in Congress and the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, have vowed to repeal it. In this week's Republican address, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso joins his party's call for repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Calling the law a "failed policy that won't lower the cost of health care in America," Barrasso says the president promised that his health care plan would not raise taxes on American families. But Barrasso says President Obama has broken his promise.

"On Thursday, I was in the courtroom as the Supreme Court ruled that the President's health care law is what the president claimed is was not: a new tax.

On Friday, White House officials insisted that the individual mandate in the president’s health care bill is a “penalty,” not a tax, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the law under Congress’ taxing power.

“For those who can afford health insurance but choose to remain uninsured, forcing the rest of us to pay for their care, a penalty is administered as part of the Affordable Care Act,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Friday.

Still the individual mandate is just one of the president's "many broken promises," according to Barrasso.

"He promised lower health care costs, but they keep going up. He promised lower insurance premiums, but they've increased $2,400 a family over the past three years. He promised the law would create jobs, but the Congressional Budget Office projects that 800,000 fewer people will have jobs because of this law. He promised it wouldn't add a dime to the deficit, but the law calls for trillions of dollars in new spending that Americans don't want," he says of President Obama's health plan.

Barrasso added that President Obama also promised to protect Medicare, "but instead he raided $500 billion from our seniors on Medicare -- not to strengthen Medicare -- but to start a whole new government program for someone else."

The senator says that repealing the law and replacing it with "real health care reform" is what will "make sure that our heath care system is truly patient-centered, not government-centered."

"Once we have repealed the law, we will tackle the serious problems that plagued our health care system and are now getting worse," Barrasso says. "We will replace this law with real reforms that will actually lower costs and improve access to care. We will not make the same mistakes the Democrats made. We will not raise taxes in the middle of a recession. We will not push through a 2,700 page bill the American people can't afford and don't want."

"Now that the Supreme Court has acted, the American people cannot afford for Congress to wait any longer," he says. "It is time for Washington to repeal the president's health care law and replace it with real health care reform."

United States Senate(WASHINGTON) -- In this week's Republican address, Texas Sen. John Cornyn warns Americans of 'Taxmageddon' -- or what the GOP says will be the "largest tax increase in American history" without action by Congress and the president.

"Make no mistake: every single working American will see his or her taxes go up on January 1st absent action," Cornyn says in the address. "Family budgets will be squeezed even tighter. Disposable income will shrink. And many jobs will be destroyed."

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Rep. Cory Gardner (Colo.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee says in this week's Republican Address that President Obama has failed to deal with rising gas prices and that Americans are fed up. But, he says, the president can still correct the problem by encouraging the Democratic-run Senate to act on energy bills already passed in the House.

Gardner criticizes Obama's approach to the soaring gas costs, saying, "The most forceful thing the president has done about the high gas prices is try to explain that he's against them. Americans have the right to expect more from their leaders."

While Rep. Gardner says that, in fairness, the President has agreed in the past that he'd be willing to work with Republicans on an 'all-of-the-above' energy strategy, he adds that the Obama administration has "consistently slowed down or shut down domestic energy production." An all-of-the-above approach, Gardner says, would mean developing "our own resources -- both traditional and renewable" -- to lower costs and improve energy security.

As of now, Congressman Gardner says, there are at least seven bipartisan, House-passed energy bills awaiting a vote in the Senate.

"Unfortunately, the president has yet to follow through and urge the Senate to act. He's just carried on with more of the same," Gardner says.

Instead, the president has pushed to prevent construction on the Keystone Pipeline, and "called for raising energy taxes, which the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says would actually lead to higher prices," the congressman adds.

"The longer we let politicians like President Obama continue to block responsible American energy production, the longer our nation will continue to suffer with high gas prices and limited energy security," Gardner warns.

"Let's seize this moment, expand freedom instead of government, and secure our energy future once and for all," he says.

Melina Mara/The Washington Post(WASHINGTON) -- In this week's Republican address, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell touts the various achievements of GOP leadership on the heels of President Obama's 2013 budget announcement.

But first, McDonnell finds fault with Senate Dems, who he points out have not passed a budget in "over 1000 days."

"This is an astounding failure of leadership and management of the nation’s finances," McDonnell says.

On Monday, the president will unveil his budget in person in a speech Monday at Northern Virginia Community College. The White House said Friday that this budget projects a deficit of $1.3 trillion for 2012. Under the administration’s tax and spending proposals, the deficit would fall to $901 billion next year.

The budget largely echoes the domestic proposals that the president has been pushing for the last year, including spending for job creation and tax increases for the wealthy.

But Gov. McDonnell says Americans can expect to see things worsen with President Obama's proposals.

"We can expect the President’s budget to make private sector job creation tougher because it will raise taxes and continue policies like Obamacare that are making it harder for small businesses to hire -- at a time when millions of Americans remain out of work," McDonnell says.

He later adds, "Now we can expect the President’s budget to again fail to address the $15 trillion, and growing, national debt -- in fact, it will probably make it worse. With no boldness or leadership or setting priorities, the Obama approach is simply more debt, more taxes, and more blaming others."

After predicting the president's delivery of a "bloated budget that doubles down on the failed policies of the past," McDonnell highlights the "$65 billion in deficits" closed by Republican governors in recent years.

"While Washington D.C. borrows at a staggering $3.5 billion a day just to keep the lights on, Republican governors have closed $65 billion in deficits the past two fiscal years alone," he says. "Here in Virginia, we closed $6 billion in budget shortfalls without raising taxes and produced nearly $1 billion in surpluses the past two years, by putting new money into transportation and colleges and universities. In Nebraska, Governor Dave Heineman proposed $326 million in tax cuts. In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie is pushing to cut the state income tax by 10 percent."

"And Republican governors in Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico and South Carolina are all working to reform their tax systems to make their states more competitive," he adds.

Finally, Gov. McDonnell talks about what Republicans believe the role of government should be in economic recovery.

"At every level, governments should pass budgets on time that fund core functions like education, transportation and public safety well, and don't waste precious taxpayer dollars. And, at every level, governments should enact policies that ensure our private sector job creators, small business owners, and entrepreneurs can compete again the world, create jobs and innovate," McDonnell says closing out the address.

"The American people can out-compete and out-work anyone, anywhere. All they need is the opportunity."

US House of Representatives(WASHINGTON) -- Rep. Pat Meehan, R-Pa., says if only the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama would work with Republicans, Congress could "end the gridlock and get our economy moving."

"As part of Republicans' Plan for America’s Job Creators, the House has passed nearly 30 bipartisan jobs bills that the Senate hasn’t considered, proposals to help small businesses grow and create jobs," Rep. Meehan said in this week's address. "It was promising to see the president come out this week and endorse several of our ideas, but what would really be helpful is for him to urge the Senate to actually vote on them."

One Obama'-endorsed deal Meehan refers to is the the extension of payroll tax cuts. Meehan says a bill to extend the cuts for a full year has been passed by the Republican-led House, but not by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Democrats are working up a "backup" bill should the payroll conference committee fail to reach an agreement by the Feb. 29 deadline.

Reid said Friday, "if we don't have something in the relatively near future from the payroll conference committee," that he would bring a backup to the floor.

"Democrats will not let taxes go up on the middle class," Reid told reporters on a conference call Friday.

Meehan said another jobs bill Republicans are working on is a plan for energy and infrastructure that would boost job growth in the private sector by removing government barriers. But the Pennsylvania congressman says this would be a departure from "the way things were done in the past by both parties, who stuffed highway bills with earmarks, many of which only drained resources from urgent projects that have a direct connection to economic growth."

“In 2005, I’m sad to say, a Republican-led Congress passed a highway bill that contained more than 6,300 earmarks, including the ‘Bridge to Nowhere,'" Meehan pointed out. "John Boehner was one of only eight members who voted against that bill. He’s now our Speaker, and those days are over."

Meehan says, that a new Republican bill "removes barriers to job growth and reforms the process by ending needless delays, empowering states and communities and ensuring resources go to projects that have a direct connection to our economy."

Meehan calls attention to the bipartisan interest in improving U.S. infrastructure, as it is also supported by President Obama.

“Our economy faces serious challenges right now -- gridlock in Washington doesn’t have to be one of them. The House is acting on good ideas, and with help from the President and Democrats in the Senate, we can get things done. The people we represent sent us here to find solutions and move the country forward -- not further divide it," Rep. Meehan says.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida delivers this week's Republican address just as his state's Republican presidential primary is underway. Just after the four candidates for the nomination wrap up campaigning in the state and before Florida Republicans head to the polls, Rubio expressed excitement for the prospect of a new Republican nominee that can pull a victory over President Obama.

Sen. Rubio digs in to Obama right away in the Republican address, explaining why he believes the president didn't use his recent State of the Union speech to talk about his success so far.

"It was an opportunity for the president to talk about his accomplishments over the last three years and to lay out his plans for the year ahead. And he missed on both counts," Rubio says, adding, “You didn’t hear much talk about the success of his Administration -- and that’s because there isn’t much."

And Rubio doesn't stop there. He continues his criticism of President Obama, saying that while he may have inherited serious problems upon taking office, the country's large national debt and high unemployment have all been made worse since Obama's term began.

"So what are his plans now to make things better? What does he plan to do now, that he didn't do before?" Rubio asks, again referencing Obama's State of the Union address. "He plans to divide us against each other. To pit Americans against other Americans in the hopes of generating enough votes to get re-elected."

"He tells Americans worried about their jobs that the way to help them is to raise their bosses' taxes. He tells those who are hurting that they only way they can be better off, is for others to be worse off. He tells all of us the only way for some of us to climb up the economic ladders for others to be pulled down," Sen. Rubio says.

Rubio claims the president's "divisive rhetoric" is asking Americans to "abandon our economic heritage," which says "those who have made it fairly, can stay here. And those who are trying to make will have a real chance to join them."

The way to resolve the growing gap between the country's poor and wealthy is to "embrace American Free Enterprise system," the Florida senator says, noting his father's success as a bartender at Miami and Las Vegas hotels.

"…I know that this idea of a nation where anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything, it’s not just something I read about in history books. I’ve seen it in my own life. And there’s no reason why we cannot continue it here, if only we do the right things," he says.

Hensarling [dot] House [dot] gov(WASHINGTON) -- On the heels of the president State of the Union address, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling says the economy has only worsened since President Obama took office. In this week's Republican address, Hensarling reviews some of the president's past promises.

"As [President Obama] prepares for his State of the Union address, it’s worth reviewing the previous messages he’s delivered to a nation eager to create jobs," Rep. Hensarling says. In 2009, we were told that if we passed his ‘stimulus’ plan, the economy would improve. In 2010, we were told that if we passed his government takeover of health care, the economy would improve. Last year, we were told that his budget would help us ‘win the future."

Hensarling then points to ways in which he says the president has failed on his promises and the economy is now only in worse shape than before, "regardless of the president's good intentions."

“Since President Obama took office, 1.9 million fewer Americans have jobs. Gas prices have doubled. More Americans are on food stamps than ever before. The new health care law is making it harder for small businesses to hire and provide health insurance. Our national debt now exceeds the size of our entire economy. And as the president takes to the podium to address the nation, we will be marking 1,000 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate has even bothered to pass a budget."

Rep. Hensarling further condemns the president's decision to pass on the Keystone pipeline project. He says that despite the project's support by a "diverse coalition, from unions and small businesses to lawmakers in both parties," President Obama, "rejected the project and buried 20,000 shovel ready jobs."

Now, Hensarling says in the address, "Republicans will continue fighting to bring these Keystone jobs to the United States."